What Tablet for navigation / What software?

[sully75]

Hello all, this is my first post here.

I'm buying a pretty well equipped Pearson Triton and going to sail north from Newport RI this summer as far as I can get.  Definitely planning on hitting Maine and would love to go as far as Cape Breton and/or Newfoundland/Labrador.

The boat has a chart plotter on board.  I'm looking to buy a chart book for Maine.  I'm also planning on having a Tablet for a backup GPS and for navigating in the cabin.  I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions about what tablet to get and what software to use?  I'm definitely leaning towards an Android tablet for economy.  I have been thinking about having two, one for a backup.

Also I've been pondering buying a laptop and was thinking about getting a GPS dongle to use too.  The boat has no inboard, power is from some small solar panels, so whatever I get has to be quite efficient.  I have an old netbook that's not quite up to the job, but seems almost close.  So I've been wondering about buying a new netbook or something similarly energy efficient.  I'd take any suggestions you had for that too.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Paul

[s/v Faith]

Hello Paul,

  Welcome aboard!

I have owned many computers, and never bought into apple.  I was wrong.

I just got back from a 6 month cruise,and my ipad is simply the best bit of computer kit I have ever owned.

Mine is a 3rd generation, 32g with wi-fi and 3G.  You want the 3 g even if you do not intend to use the cell based Internet since they come with a built in GPS.  There is some bogus info on the net that suggests the ipad does not haveq a real GPS, that is incorrect.  I get fixes in seconds from a cold boot, and it worked great for the entire 6 month, 5000nm trip.

No problems ever, no "blue screen of death" no running the generator to feed it amps...

I downloaded the new Garmin navigation software, (free) and bought charts for the entire North America region for less then a good chartbook ($44 iirc).

I would never go without paper charts as a backup, but have to say this is a great tool.

Nothing to figure out.... Runs all say on a simple charge....  Gets wi-fi better then my dell or IBM laptops, and is very portable. 

I will stop here since I know the anti-apple crowd is getting anxious.... I was once one of them and still remember what it felt like.

Go ahead, resistance is futile.  ;)

[SalientAngle]

Go ahead, resistance is futile.  ;)

One word, LINUX

[s/v Faith]

Go ahead, resistance is futile.  ;)

One word, LINUX

Among my many jobs, I used to write programs for automated test equipment in a language called "Atlas".

I had a computer with a zx 81 processor, before I had my 8088.  I ran a dial up bbs off of my first 386 (dx thank you, sx sux) ;)

My point is that I am not a stranger to mucking around with things, I still have a notebook somewhere full of 'hacks' I made to .... "Windows 3.11".

Saying all that, I took a couple runs at Linix.  I had some excellent tutelage.... Well known to this site (really well known).

Never could, make anything work as well or nearly as reliable as this ipad.

[SalientAngle]

Go ahead, resistance is futile.  ;)

One word, LINUX

Saying all that, I took a couple runs at Linix.  I had some excellent tutelage.... Well known to this site (really well known).

Never could, make anything work as well or nearly as reliable as this ipad.

yeppers, machine language on the 8088 is a lost art; but, with that said, apple OS is basically linux... heck, I owned a lisa on a defense contract and several later models... back then you had to stick a paper click through the "hidden hole" to get to the command prompt... just saying... macs are kewl, albeit way over-priced... GNU generation, your mileage may vary, cheers,  ;)

[SalientAngle]

ps, this entire conversation could be blocked as "political"  :) ;) :D ;D >:(

[s/v Faith]

ps, this entire conversation could be blocked as "political"  :) ;) :D ;D >:(

Could be almost as bad as anchoring!  ;D

Fwiw,

  A gen 1 ipad with 32g and wi-fi with 3G (GPS) is between $150 and $200 on Craig's list.  I like the sharper display and the camera on my gen 3+, but for the price of a handheld you can pretty much do anything a small boat Sailor needs.

[rorik]

Since 1998: Apple or Linux or pen and paper.  ;D

[Travelnik]

In the late 70's: Basic
In Jr. High, we had access to the college computer mainframe. The display was a green & white paper 9-pin printout of ASCII art.  :D
First computer I owned was a Radio Shack TRS80 Pocket Computer with 2K ram! Cassette tape backup!

80's: Basic, Pascal & Cobol
Computers were Timex Sinclair with the 16K ram expansion! Cassette backup. Then the Commodore 64!

90's: Apple DOS & PC DOS, Then Windows 95. Back to Mac OS7 and never went back to PC's!  ;D
Apple IIG with 2 floppy drives! One for Apple DOS, the other for the program you were running.
Then I built my own X86 because you could build them for less than you could buy one. I kept upgrading it, and later built a Pentium.

I bought an Apple LCII from a friend, and I was hooked!  :D
(Photoshop 2 fit on a floppy!)

Then came America OnLine! My wife thought the Internet was a stupid thing to do, but I talked her into the free month AOL trial. 2 weeks later, she was hooked!

Now, if I could just get her away from Facebook!!!  ::)

[s/v Faith]

I hope Sully does not mind my detour... Was just making my point about background before I got this ipad....   I am obviously very happy with it.

I suppose someone else might be using something else?

Or maybe I can just assume everyone agrees that the Ipad is king?    ;)

[Godot]

A timely query. I've been thinking on this a bit, myself.

Question: is there a serial port (or, more likely now-a-days, a USB port that will take a serial dongle) on the iPad (or any of the other common tablets)? I'd love to feed the AIS info from the Standard Horizon Matrix AIS GX2150. That is, assuming that the Garmin software is AIS aware. Also, can you output nav info (waypoints, routes) to a microSD card? That is the only way to get it into my Lowrance Elite 4m chartplotter (it's a little 3.5" display unit, pretty nice, inexpensive; but entering waypoints and routes on it is slow and frustrating, which is my primary need for a tablet/netbook/laptop).

I've been using an IBM T40 running Linux and OpenCPN for planning. I like it. It's reasonably cheap on the electrons (2-2.5 amps through a 12v adapter...too high to run all the time; but good for planning and occasional use). It has little inherent value, meaning if it gets doused I won't be terribly upset. Unfortunately, I upgraded the distro and because I didn't realize the T40 uses a CPU without PAE (if you don't know, you don't want to know), I broke it. Newer distros generally expect PAE. There are work arounds, including just going to earlier versions, and some distros specifically optimized for older systems; but I'm too busy mucking around with the boat to spend the time at the moment, so I'm considering alternatives.

FWIW, I tried OpenCPN on my girlfriends HP Mini netbook and it worked fabulously. It was compact, unexpectedly comfortable to type on, and had a very good looking, albeit small, display. We took it with us to Costa Rica and it really came in handy without weighing us down. Unfortunately, it, along with everything else, was stolen (I travel light anyhow; but there is a limit...I wish the miscreants would have at least left a change of underwear!). I am definitely leaning towards getting one for the boat.

[Leroy - Gulf 29]

Not a computer whizzard by any means. So this is worth what you paid for it.  The Ipad has bluetooth, and there are 1 or 2 wireless GPS pucks that work with the iPad.  The one I have for my ASUS netbook does not :( 

[SalientAngle]

Not a computer whizzard by any means. So this is worth what you paid for it.  The Ipad has bluetooth, and there are 1 or 2 wireless GPS pucks that work with the iPad.  The one I have for my ASUS netbook does not :( 

I use the BU-353 puck with two different asus netbooks... It uses the SiRF Star III chipset... it works with both linux installations; and, I used it with mac os 10.6.6 on my son-in-laws mac to show him the advantages... cheers

[s/v Faith]

Not a computer whizzard by any means. So this is worth what you paid for it.  The Ipad has bluetooth, and there are 1 or 2 wireless GPS pucks that work with the iPad.  The one I have for my ASUS netbook does not :( 

Yes, this is a good workaround for folks with the non-3G iPads.  The one I have, and All of the 3G models ( the ones with cell phone Internet) have a built in GPS receiver.  It is an excellent GPS, with very fast fix times.

There is confusion about the ipad GPS, some think it needs a cell signal to work.  It does not, but is present in the iPads that have the 3G option.  There is a neat trick apple uses to get such a short initialization time that uses cell phone towers to get a rough idea of where it is to figure out which satellites to look for.

Like on older GPS, where you had to tell it roughly where you were for it to find the first fix.... The ipad uses the cell towers to tell the GPS what satellites to expect.

It works just fine out to sea.  A cold boot out of cell range takes no longer then my Garmin handheld.

No GPS puck required also means one less plug and wire to worry about trailing around in the cockpit.

[SalientAngle]

Not a computer whizzard by any means. So this is worth what you paid for it.  The Ipad has bluetooth, and there are 1 or 2 wireless GPS pucks that work with the iPad.  The one I have for my ASUS netbook does not :( 

Yes, this is a good workaround for folks with the non-3G iPads.  The one I have, and All of the 3G models ( the ones with cell phone Internet) have a built in GPS receiver.  It is an excellent GPS, with very fast fix times.

There is confusion about the ipad GPS, some think it needs a cell signal to work.  It does not, but is present in the iPads that have the 3G option.  There is a neat trick apple uses to get such a short initialization time that uses cell phone towers to get a rough idea of where it is to figure out which satellites to look for.

Like on older GPS, where you had to tell it roughly where you were for it to find the first fix.... The ipad uses the cell towers to tell the GPS what satellites to expect.

It works just fine out to sea.  A cold boot out of cell range takes no longer then my Garmin handheld.

No GPS puck required also means one less plug and wire to worry about trailing around in the cockpit.

Yes, an excellent option on the firmware side, I really like SeaClear II on any platform, the noaa charts, et al...

[marujo_sortudo]

All true about the iPad.  Two warnings, though.  Don't get a gen 1 iPad anymore.  Lots of software not supported anymore and lots of newer stuff just crashes.  Plus, no Garmin.   I should know, i have one.  Also, get a white one.  They love to overheat in the sun.  Other than those caveats, low power consumption, easy to use, good gps, etc.  Good choice IMHO.

[cap-couillon]

Gonna throw in my $0.02 worth.....

The Solitaire had no electronics at all when I obtained her. Been fighting myself over how best to spend limited budget. Requirements as follows.

1, Basic GPS  (No ChartPlotter)
Still use paper charts, ships log and a pair of dividers for basic navigation. Heck, I even take a noon shoot most days to stay in practice. That said, GPS is a wonderful thing.
2. VHF
3. Depth Sounder
4. Minimum Power Consumption
Solar on the hook, Low power taffrail  generator underway 200AH AGM

Here is what I came up with ...  Since plain old digital readout GPS is just about non-available, and given that the current Nav software available is fun for passage planning decided to go with a laptop and a "hockey puck gps rcvr. Laptop can be packed ashore for email etc as well as being used for nav
Chose to buy an Asus 1015pe netbook. (used)
Available all over for less than 150.00
3 USB ports
Small
Extremely low power usage (1/2 to 1/4 your std 15" laptop)
Linux Compatible (Low power netbook needs low overhead operating system)
OS Crunchbang Linux
Nav Software  OpenCPN / PolarNavy  (OpenCPN is free, PolarNavy is almost free. Both utilize free charts from NOAA. Download of all relevant charts from Chesapeake to Tampa took about 45 minutes.)

Also decided to cough the extra bucks for a Std Horizon 2150GX radio. This jewel has an integrated ais rcvr (Never could afford radar, but this box is only $350) VHF and if you tie it into your nmea bus with the gps it will display a basic gps output as well. (ie Brng CMG SOG etc) All in a waterproof unit in the  cockpit. If I need more info, can jump down below and light up the laptop display.


total power consumption ~15W  or 1,25A   

[Wade]

I read all those posts or tried to, got too techy for me. Here is my question. I have a Samsung Galaxy 7" tablet. I would like to use it as a chartplotter. I don't really need it but would like to play around with it. Which software would work best? Oh yea, free is always good but not required.   Thanks, Wade

[skylark]

See if this works on your tablet:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=noaa.csm&hl=en

[lance on cloud nine]

I have had really good luck with using a smart phone and navonics. I down loaded navonics on my phone as a test to see if i would want to get a dedicated tablet and was surprised to find how perfect it was as is.
You can stick your phone anywhere it is convenient with a little velcro, and just grab it when you need it. it is easy to hold a tiller and phone at the same time. uses much less power. good luck with your new boat! smooth sailing!